Brechen is a municipality in
Limburg-Weilburg
Limburg-Weilburg is a Kreis (district) in the west of Hesse, Germany. Neighboring districts are Lahn-Dill, Hochtaunuskreis, Rheingau-Taunus, Rhein-Lahn, Westerwaldkreis.
History
*1867 the ''Oberlahnkreis'', capital Weilburg was created
*1886 the ...
district in
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
Geography
Location
Brechen lies in the southeastern part of the
Limburg Basin between the
Taunus
The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is '' Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are ''Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and '' Altkönig'' (798 m).
The Taunus range span ...
and the
Westerwald
The Westerwald (; literally 'Western forest') is a low mountain range on the right bank of the river Rhine in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a part of the Rhenish Massif ( or Rhenish ...
. The sparsely wooded land of
loess hills is crossed here from southeast to northwest by the Emsbach, which is fed near Niederbrechen by the Wörsbach and drains the area down to the
Lahn
The Lahn is a , right (or eastern) tributary of the Rhine in Germany. Its course passes through the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia (23.0 km), Hesse (165.6 km), and Rhineland-Palatinate (57.0 km).
It has its source in t ...
. Together with the ''Idsteiner Senke'' (basin), which joins it in the south, this patch of countryside is customarily known as the ''Goldener Grund'' (“Golden Ground”), a reference to the favourable
climate
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
and the fruitful earth.
Neighbouring communities
In the northwest the community of Brechen borders on the district seat of
Limburg
Limburg or Limbourg may refer to:
Regions
* Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium
* Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands
* Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...
, in the north on the town of
Runkel
Runkel is a town on the river Lahn in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany.
Geography
Location
Runkel lies in the Lahn Valley on both sides of the river between the Westerwald and the Taunus, some eight kilometres east of Limburg.
...
, in the northeast on the market town of
Villmar, in the southeast on the community of
Selters
Selters is a German brand of natural mineral water sourced from wells in the area of Selters in Hesse, at the Taunus mountains.
The water has been known since the Bronze Age and famous as a natural soda water because of its high concentration ...
and in the southwest on the community of
Hünfelden (all in Limburg-Weilburg).
Constituent communities
Brechen's three ''
Ortsteil
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
e'' are Niederbrechen (administrative seat as well as biggest of the three), Oberbrechen and Werschau.
Within the framework of administrative reform in Hesse on 31 December 1971, the community of Brechen came into being through the amalgamation of the formerly autonomous communities of Werschau and Niederbrechen. Since 1 July 1974, Oberbrechen has also belonged to the community.
Image:Niederbrechen Kirche Front.jpg, Niederbrechen: entrance to St. Maximin's parish church
Image:Oberbrechen Brunnen.jpg, Oberbrechen: fountain at Denkmalsplatz (“Memorial Square”)
Image:Berger Kirche Seite.jpg, Werschau: ''Berger Kirche''
History
Roman camp
Very early in Brechen's history, there was a
Roman military camp
In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word ''castrum'', plural ''castra'', was a military-related term.
In Latin usage, the singular form ''castrum'' meant 'fort', while the plural form ''castra'' meant 'camp'. The singular and ...
in what is now the municipal area, at a site now known as Alteburg (“High Castle”), lying on the Emsbach.
The camp's south frontage has a length of 140 m joining two sidewalls with respective lengths of 90 and 135 m.
The camp came to light after finds made with
metal detector
A metal detector is an instrument that detects the nearby presence of metal. Metal detectors are useful for finding metal objects on the surface, underground, and under water. The unit itself, consist of a control box, and an adjustable shaft, ...
s led the regional
archaeologist Dr. Schade-Lindig from the Hesse state office for memorial maintenance to carry out the first investigations in the ''Großer Wald'' (“Great Forest”) east of Oberbrechen between 1999 and 2001. Lying near a group of
Hallstatt-era barrows, the site had long been known to contain something historical, but since it had never been properly investigated, it had always been taken to be a
sconce from the
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...
(1618–1648). In particular, the site's good state of preservation had led to this interpretation, but already by 1915, a
denarius
The denarius (, dēnāriī ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very ...
from
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
’s time had been found there. The latest investigations have yielded the knowledge that this site was girded by a typical Roman V-shaped ditch, within which spread an area of roughly two hectares. Magnetic investigations show a gate in the eroded northern part. Thus far, no building within the site has been found, and during
digs, no datable finds were unearthed.
Private finds from this area point to the likelihood of a marsh camp from Augustus’s time
Middle Ages
In a donation document from the
Lorsch Abbey
Lorsch Abbey, otherwise the Imperial Abbey of Lorsch (german: Reichsabtei Lorsch; la, Laureshamense Monasterium or ''Laurissa''), is a former Imperial abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about east of Worms. It was one of the most renowned monasteries ...
dated 12 August 772, Niederbrechen and Oberbrechen had their first documentary mention under the name ''Brachina'' (“at the mountain slope”). In the time that followed, ownership of the two places passed to
St. Maximin's Abbey at
Trier
Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...
. Over many centuries, ownership shifted back and forth between the
Electorate of Trier and the Counts of Molsberg.
The communities had importance as they lay on the long-distance trade road between
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
and
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
(
Via Publica) as advance posts of Electorate of Trier territory for those going towards Frankfurt. Niederbrechen temporarily held town rights in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
and had a town wall, parts of which are still preserved today.
The
Berger Kirche
Berger Kirche is the common name of a church building close to , part of Brechen in Hesse, Germany. It was first mentioned in 910 and is one of the oldest buildings in the region. It was dedicated to St. George, and remained when the village of Be ...
has existed since
Carolingian times and was the region's mother church. It was the local church for the now
abandoned village
An abandoned village is a village that has, for some reason, been deserted. In many countries, and throughout history, thousands of villages have been deserted for a variety of causes. Abandonment of villages is often related to epidemic, f ...
of Bergen – hence the church's name – which is believed to have vanished sometime between 1354 and 1490. The church's first documentary mention was in 910; parts of today's building can be dated to about the turn of the second millennium.
The constituent community of Werschau had its first documentary mention in 1235.
Modern times
In 1802, the municipal area became part of the
Principality of
Nassau-Weilburg
The House of Nassau-Weilburg, a branch of the House of Nassau, ruled a division of the County of Nassau, which was a state in what is now Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1344 to 1806.
On 17 July 1806, upon the dissolution of t ...
, which itself passed to
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
in 1866. As of that year, the three centres that now make up Brechen belonged to the district of Limburg; since 1974 they have belonged to the district of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse.
Politics
Community council
The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:
Coat of arms
The community's
arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
are
quartered with each of the smaller fields in the
escutcheon bearing a symbol of a constituent community's patron saint, namely a bear (
Saint Maximin), a dragon (
Saint George
Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldie ...
) and a rose (Saint Felicity), while the fourth field bears the red Trier cross in reference to the community's one-time territorial allegiance to the
Electorate of Trier.
Economy and infrastructure
The formerly dominant industry of
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
is still important today with almost 70% of the community's area being worked by fewer than ten full-time operations. Brechen has, however, developed into a residential community, 90% of whose working inhabitants earn their livelihood in surrounding towns, mainly in the
Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region
The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, often simply referred to as Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area or Rhine-Main area (German: ''Rhein-Main-Gebiet'' or ''Frankfurt/Rhein-Main'', abbreviated FRM), is the second-largest metropolitan re ...
.
Transport
Brechen is well linked to the long-distance road network by way of the
A 3 (
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
–
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
, Limburg-Nord
interchange) lying 6 km away. Through the community runs ''
Bundesstraße
''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.
Germany
Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km.
German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...
'' 8.
At the Limburg-Süd interchange also lies the
Limburg-Süd railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
on the
InterCityExpress’s
Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line with hourly trains offering a quick link to
Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres ...
(17 min.),
Cologne Bonn Airport
Cologne Bonn Airport (german: Flughafen Köln/Bonn 'Konrad Adenauer') is the international airport of Germany's fourth-largest city Cologne, and also serves Bonn, former capital of West Germany. With around 12.4 million passengers passing thr ...
and the rest if the ICE network.
Niederbrechen and
Oberbrechen stations lie on
RMV line 20 (
Main-Lahn Railway
The Main-Lahn railway (german: Main-Lahn-Bahn), also called the Limburg railway (''Limburger Bahn''), is a double-track, electrified main railway line in Germany. The long line extends from Frankfurt Central Station (''Hauptbahnhof'') to Eschhofen ...
) between
Limburg an der Lahn
Limburg an der Lahn (officially abbreviated ''Limburg a. d. Lahn'') is the district seat of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse, Germany.
Geography
Location
Limburg lies in western Hessen between the Taunus and the Westerwald on the river Lahn.
The t ...
and
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
.
Education
The community has at its disposal one
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
and one
Hauptschule
A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...
with a
Realschule
''Realschule'' () is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), ...
branch in Niederbrechen as well as a further primary school in Oberbrechen. Other
secondary schools are to be found nearby in Limburg.
Public institutions
* Schule im Emsbachtal in Niederbrechen
* Grundschule Oberbrechen in Oberbrechen
*
Kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th ce ...
Niederbrechen, In der Schlei 45
* Kindergarten Niederbrechen, Westerwaldstraße 1-3
* Kindergarten Oberbrechen
* Kindergarten Werschau
* Niederbrechen Volunteer
Fire Brigade
A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...
, founded 1897
* Oberbrechen Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1895 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
* Werschau Volunteer Fire Brigade, founded 1927 (includes Youth Fire Brigade)
* Niederbrechen Catholic public
library
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
* Oberbrechen Catholic public library
* Werschau Catholic public library
* Niederbrechen
gymnastics
Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...
club
Famous people
Sons and daughters of the town
* Joseph Neuhäuser (1890–1949),
composer
* Walter Neuhäusser (1926- ),
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
* Albert Otto (b. 1885 in Oberbrechen, d. 1975),
artist
People connected with the community
* Peter Josef Blum (1808–1884), Bishop of Limburg
References
Further reading
* F.-R. Herrmann und A. Jockenhövel: Die Vorgeschichte Hessens. 1990, S.329f.
* F.-R. Herrmann: Römerüberraschung. Archäologie in Deutschland 4, 2001, S.41.
External links
*
{{Authority control
Limburg-Weilburg